Farl Hawklight (Human Fighter 6, Unbreakable archetype with a twist, TWF with spiked shield) - a former mercenary with a drinking problem and a violent streak, but a good guy deep down.

Willow {family name withheld} (Male Gold Elf, Wizard 6, Loremaster build) - a young Elven scholar from Waterdeep. Classically trained at Silverymoon's College of Magic. Also an accomplished battle mage. Currently a candidate to join the Knights in Silver and studying several sites in the High Forest believed to be a part of the fallen kingdom of Arvyanndar.

Kendra Ravenmane (Human Female, Ranger 6, Mounted Archer build) - a sweet natured follower of Meilikki with a sassy streak. Knows how to handle a sword...and Farl's wandering hands. A phenom with a longbow, and beautiful.

Athera Moonglow (Half-elf Female, Druid 6, Mooncaller Archetype) - a orphaned, naive, young druid from the Moonwood. Has no idea what she wants but knowns she doesn't want to stay in the Moonwood. She was given to a local druid at birth by her elven mother as she Retreated to Evermeet. Her human father had already left to parts unknown. She was raised in a secluded druid grove by a grumpy old man (druid), animals were her constant and only friends. She desires to seek new adventures and some day know her heritage and past.

Arak, a Goliath Fighter. Running joke about him leaning on things and finding random doorways. Young suggestable optimistic type, almost in the vein of anime protags such as Goku, Luffy etc. Holds the Heart of the Mountain, a primordial artifact, and occasionally answers to that title. Bit of a thing going on with another Goliath called Asby, they won joint second in the World Goliath Championships.

Myst, a Shifter Ranger(Avenger Multiclass). Kinda grumpy, gambling problem, has a sister she hates(who is basically Azula because i thought it would be funny to go off and design her character with the GM). Makes a point of being neutral. Worships the Ravenqueen. Once crushed the seed of a potential universe and was left with a glowing rose tattoo with far realmsy powers that she hasn't given into yet. Known as the Deathbringer.

Osrikh, a Kenku Thief. Has a robotic claw made by my character's Dad. Kind of the wisecracking type. Has a traumatic history of being kicked around in Menzoberranzan. Has a number of aliases, such as the Red Raven, Boris Guyovitch, etc. Constantly in the shadow of his brother Oswald who is now an awesome space pirate.

Vorgan, a Tiefling Warlock(Infernal Pact). Mysterious, shows up to throw stuff at the enemy and then disappears again. I guess the Tuxedo Mask of the group. Apparently a descendant of Asmodeus. We actually know very little about him. Seems to be on good terms with the recurring Succubi characters.

Mikel, a Human Noble Swordmage. From a down on their luck branch of the Ruldegost family. Not the most charismatic of fellows, almost a little self defeatist but comes alive in battle. Ended up having a thing with the daughter of Countess Viridia, my character's evil fairy godmother(who is also my half-sister because fairies).

And finally my character, who's kinda difficult to classify. On paper she's an Eladrin Bard/Resourecful Magician called Eleonora Prismriver. She had a human parent, a mad scientist type called Alexander, and an Eladrin parent, a Morticia Addams-ish witch called Alstromeria. Because Alexander was "special", and Alstromeria's unusual bloodline, Ellie was effectively born a full fairy - in particular a Leannán Sídhe. Her mother spent a lot of time around spellplague which exaggerated these traits and made Ellie unstable, meaning she ended up taken away by Alexander and experimented on until she ended up with a weird seal. Her Dad also made a bunch of constructs and stuff we keep around our tower and is a bit of a Philanderer(Ellie has two half sisters by him). Unfortunately, even with the Seal, Ellie has a habit of putting people to sleep/draining them when she kisses them. She had control of it but had to give up half of the seal to save her spellplagued half-succubus sister(yeah, Alexander had an experimental phase).

There are Bards that play the flute, there are bards that focus on poetry, Ellie is pretty much a Showgirl. I tend to describe her as a glamrock fairy princess. though she's not a real princess, she's a courtesan, that actually suits her better since real princesses are more restricted. She used to be a more straight up bard playing with her other half-sister(she has 3, this one's unrelated to the other 2) who's unfortunately become estranged to her due to the noble family that adopted her getting tetchy.

yeeeah Ellie's pretty hard to describe. We decided her family motto is "It's Complicated." I've written a bunch of fics delving into her backstory and NPCs.

Previously we also had a Githzerai monk of Selûne called Adele who was kind of crazy. She fought with Myst a lot, mostly over the one time Adele started a bar fight. Her former master has a Darth Vader thing going on and Adele keeps getting tempted by the dark side. Left on some sort of spiritual quest. May be back for the wedding.

Some of the NPCs are prety awesome too, though mostly the ones I mentioned in Ellie's bio.

Okay, so we're playing straight Pathfinder rules, but the setting is a large island west of Western Immorren, the home of the Iron Kingdoms. So it's a Pathfinder/Iron Kingdoms mashup. And we're doing a Kingmaker thing -- not the AP, but building a kingdom.

Our characters are all currently single-classes, with no PrCs, and are all 7th level. We are all from Cygnar.

My character is Conor Moriarty, a human gun mage from Ceryl. For those unfamiliar with the Iron Kingdoms, a gun mage is a variant sorcerer, who can do fun things like use a pistol to deliver touch attacks -- I'm looking forward to getting to shoot something with vampiric touch! I lifted both the given name and surname from the 3.0 IK RPG books; I was originally looking at a different surname, but once I saw Moriarty on the list, I had to take it.

We have a trollkin paladin of Morrow named Gabe Canyon. He's actually got the highest Charisma in the group, despite a record of failing Diplomacy checks... He favors the great axe, and usually deals the most melee damage.

We have some sort of variant ranger (not sure exactly what type, but he's all about hunting) named Cornelius Pendrake (distantly related to Victor Pendrake; his player plays Warmachine). He's good at long-ranged shots and hiding from animals, and once made himself invisible to animals just as a rhino decided to charge -- leaving my squishy gun mage as the next most viable target. In our most recent session, he had an incredible shot, taking out a fleeing lizard man that was something like 350 feet away. The penalties to hit were horrible, but he critted.

He also has a donkey named Hote, pronounced Ho-tay. It's a running joke, from some prior campaign. Donkey Ho-tay.

And last is Silas Blackwater, a human oracle. He's angling to become a Warcaster in a level or two.

The DM (the other person familiar with the Iron Kingdoms) found a Pathfinder gun mage class online, and that's what we've been using for my character. The DM gave me a choice with it: a better spell progression than the class had (get spells like a regular sorcerer) or better gun abilities (get gun skills like a gunslinger). I opted for the spells, but I've been enhancing the gunplay with feats -- Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Weapon Focus (pistol), and Far Shot, for the gun stuff. And my character now has a +1 Distance Magelock pistol (named after his first love, Lady Caitlin), so he can reach out and touch someone a bit more readily.

When we first started, I commented about having a bag of holding.. The other guys wondered why I had it... I explained it in 2 words: "Strength 9!" (It had to be my dump stat).

My character's official backstory includes having served in the military for a while before getting out, due to disinterest and a lack of women. The DM is the only person that knows that Conor actually is a member of the Cygnaran Reconnaissance Service, and that his separation from the military was just for show.

- a male human hybrid barbarian|warlord who is the true heir to the crown of Neverwinter;- a male half-elf wererat valorous bard who will probably become the spymaster of Neverwinter after he takes control of the Dead Rats gang of wererats;- a male eladrin bladesinger who eventually wishes to uncover the mystery of Sharandar's disappearance; and- a male dwarf hammer-and-shield fighter who will eventually find Gauntlgrym.

4E rules, 4E Realms. :)

CheersD

NB: Please remember: A cannon is a big gun. Canon is what we discuss here.

CFO - Quilith B'anere* Male Drow Rouge- Arcane Trickster 3A Drow from a family of merchant who escaped the underdark ready to make a new life on the surface.In charge of negotiations, accounting and inventory. R&D. market research.

COO - Exeder D'Aplantar Male Amnian Paladin of Devotion to Waukeen 3An Amnian son of a self made black smith, a charming figure who cares nothing but to get the job done.In charge of negotiation, production, transport security. market research.CAO (Chief Academic Officer) Merdrar D'Aplantar Male Amnian Cleric of Knowledge to Gond.An Amnian son of a self made blacksmith, a brilliant curious mind inquisitive of all around him.In charge of market research, research and development, transport logistics.

this is 5e rules. were now doing the Mines of Phindelver adventure.*(no connection to the famed family)

- a male human hybrid barbarian|warlord who is the true heir to the crown of Neverwinter;- a male half-elf wererat valorous bard who will probably become the spymaster of Neverwinter after he takes control of the Dead Rats gang of wererats;- a male eladrin bladesinger who eventually wishes to uncover the mystery of Sharandar's disappearance; and- a male dwarf hammer-and-shield fighter who will eventually find Gauntlgrym.

4E rules, 4E Realms. :)

That sounds like fun.

4E Realms = Great Taste, Less Filling.

"If WotC were to put out a box of free money, people would still complain how it was folded."

Our Waterdeep campaign has been running for 13 years now (in RW time ;), and although it is focused on the City of Splendors and the North, we have travelled all over the Realms during these years (Amn, Cormyr and Tethyr, mainly). I could probably write at least twenty pages about our characters and the campaign in general, but I try to keep details to the "bare-bones" minimum. Note that we have not used many canon events in our campaign, although some of them might yet come to pass later on. Since we are still playing 3.0 edition, some of the stats may seem "wrong" or lacking.Our adventuring company was naively named Heroes of the North by my 1st level energetic (and extremely naive) bard, Wilfred Rollingshoulder. The name stuck, since all of the characters liked it ("It really sounds so epic and glorious!"). Of course, all the others were young and naive, too :DThe company is also known as Heroes of the Northland (for reasons known only to the DM) in Amn and Tethyr. All of the original (non-noble) characters were eventually ennobled for their services to Waterdeep (hence the honorary title of Sir or Saer).

...

Now the campaign is running towards its end, with the emergence of the Time of the Beast (Age of Worms). In our campaign, a powerful Phaerimm deity was imprisoned under the pyramids of Ascore, and now that it has become free, the whole North is becoming a hunting-ground for the Phaerimm and their allies/servants.

Reading things like this makes me insanely jealous, overcome with joy, and depressed at the same time. I have been playing for 14 years, mainly with the same four people, and we can't keep a game - nevermind the same characters - going for more than a few sessions. It is maddening, but the worst part is that I have no idea what to do about it. Reading things like this gives me hope for the future, though be it dim and cold. Congratulations on this no doubt epic and super fun campaign. May it continue for many more years.

Ratzo: Our typical male ken... I mean, halfling rogue, and a member of the Sons of Alagondar. Our source of problems in the city. When he was killed, was replaced by his cousin Ritzo. Then his other cousin Retzo, and then I forced my friend to roll a new character...

Blip: Male kenku rogue, and the replacement of Retzo. Son of Alagondar as well.

Garek McGann: Our human fighter and another member of Sons of Alagondar.

Quon: Our stereotypical tiefling warlock. She was a spellscarred harbinger, and had made her pact with Cthulhu (was a star pact warlock). She had a mini-Beholder as a familiar.

Dargor: My dragonborn paladin of Bahamut, who had to be a Harper Agent because no other Neverwinter theme was fit for a dragonborn :/. This was my only character in all of 4e (it was the same dragonborn paladin that came as a premade in Keep on the Shadowfell—I usually retconned him back to level 1 for new campaigns). My brother rolled him when I was the DM, that was mostly always...

Kara the Oghmanite: Our healer. Half-elf (or human) bard and follower of Oghma. She was a late addition to the campaign (we needed a healer, and the girlfriend of a friend wanted to play... ), and was forced to use the Oghma's Faithful by the other players just to make sense (the Neverwinter themes were a little bit limited). I don't remember much of her, really... the player wasn't an active one...

They formed a mercenary company named the White Griffons, thought they only had one griffon (named Crookytail).

We are trying to convert those characters to 5e now.

Long ago, in the distant past, they fell into decay. The philosopher’s path... The river of glory... Even the saints resting in the darkness rise up without response and block the way...

After a year and half break from DMing and gaming due to RL issues with my players (new jobs and promotions mostly) I was persuaded to advertise for new players. I'll admit to quite a bit of DM burnout due to 3.5/Pathfinder item crafting rules sucking the joy out of the game for me as DM.

But I advertised and got 2 new players in addition to getting my wife back into the fold as long with one of my friends with a newer job. We chose to try 5E out. That was last August and we are a year in.

Our game is set in the Desertmount Mountain/Lost Dale/Tethymar. I run a freeform game and very rarely use anything but a few notes and what I can remember. An NPC Mayor they helped asked them to find the lost seal of Tarkhaldale so he could take former slaves and war torn refugees to a new home. I was unsure of what to do after the initial adventure and thinking of the how the seal of shadowdale got handed around I decided the lost dale might be available with Shade being destroyed.

My players include/included:

Stewpot - halfling monk and cook from near Hillsfar - player left game for new job after 4 months

Taar Orin - dwarf totem barbarian - last living survivor of a small dwarven hold overran by evil (wights) he's basically been living on his own in the small valley for decades after his parents perished/disappeared. He joined the group just as the party had stumbled upon a long lost small dwarven hold...otherwise I would have been polaxed trying to picture a dwarven barbarian.

Alistar - Half Green elf circle of the moon druid - bit a pot/mushroom head (Varus' players replacement character after Varus' spirit turned down raising. <boy was my wife pissed after she used up those diamonds to cast the spell>

- a male human hybrid barbarian|warlord who is the true heir to the crown of Neverwinter;- a male half-elf wererat valorous bard who will probably become the spymaster of Neverwinter after he takes control of the Dead Rats gang of wererats;- a male eladrin bladesinger who eventually wishes to uncover the mystery of Sharandar's disappearance; and- a male dwarf hammer-and-shield fighter who will eventually find Gauntlgrym.

4E rules, 4E Realms. :)

That sounds like fun.

CheersD

NB: Please remember: A cannon is a big gun. Canon is what we discuss here.

The original three Realms PC's were based in Waterdeep. They came to Toril from another world (homebrew) near Waterdeep in DR 1357 (The Year of the Prince) and stuck around for the jolly times of the Avatar crisis. The names are their adopted Faerunian names, not their original names. Ethnicities are put in quotes to give you an idea of what they would have been like had they been born and raised in Faerun. The class levels are effective as of DR 1368 (The Year of the Banner). Classes follow 3.0ed pre-splatbook, including Epic Level Handbook.

I'd say the most interesting character we have in our 5E group is a wild dwarf druid (circle of the moon)/warlock (pact of the chain, fiendish patron), who's imp familiar is the "character," while his wild dwarf, Meat Puppet, is his tool that constantly shape changes into dinosaurs of various sorts, while the imp yells at the rest of the party in his nasally voice, "You're not doing it right!"

I'm playing the trapfinder, a human rogue (burglar). We also have a tabaxi fighter/rogue and a human paladin/bard, and some others that have switched from time to time as we've made our way through all of Yawning Portal.

I'd say the most interesting character we have in our 5E group is a wild dwarf druid (circle of the moon)/warlock (pact of the chain, fiendish patron), who's imp familiar is the "character," while his wild dwarf, Meat Puppet, is his tool that constantly shape changes into dinosaurs of various sorts, while the imp yells at the rest of the party in his nasally voice, "You're not doing it right!"

I have two parties in the Realms right now. Both games are set in the summer of 1357.

The first is just called "the pirates" because we can never remember the name of the ship. The PCs are:

Oria Moonflower - a level 2 Moon Elf Wizard specializing in illusions from somewhere near-ish Waterdeep. She is possibly the only member of the party with any common sense. She's the ship's doctor.

Aithne Ó Ruadgáin - a level 2 Half-Wild Elf Rogue that will eventually be using a Duelist archetype we found online. She likes expensive clothes, pretty stuff, and having fun. She's the ship's "acquirer of goods." (She has high Charisma, so this doesn't necessarily mean she steals things. Just sometimes.) She earned the respect of the crew when, after having just regained consciousness, she proceeded to kill three sahuagin in about as many rounds of combat. They'd ruined her shirt, you see.

Both of the above are Harpers sent to the Pirate Isles to investigate ship disappearances, and Aithne is about to send Twilight Hall a bill for the repair and cleaning of her clothes. "No one mentioned fish men ruining my favorite silk shirt when I joined! To say nothing of creatures made of mud that explode when you kill them!" She was not happy at all after they ran into some mud mephits.

Travok Ironfist - a level 1 Dwarf Bard who specializes in nearly dying and basically being useless. Seriously, I can't roll a double digit number for this poor guy! But it kind of fits, since my concept was that he's very lazy and prefers to spend his time drinking, playing music, and gambling. He has a Constitution of 6, which adds to his uselessness. He's the ship's navigator . . . so far, however, the only time a navigation roll has been successfully made was while he was asleep.

Chenna Warmwater - a level 2 Halfling Fighter who insists on using a bow big enough that she has Disadvantage to use it. She is full of stories of her (very, very brief) time as a Purple Dragon.

So far they've found a lost pirate treasure that wasn't as much as the captain was hoping for, discovered a Zhent slaver and managed to convince him (while he was very drunk) to return to Zhentil Keep and tell Manshoon why he should be in charge instead, discovered that the Zhent weren't behind most of the ship disappearances, and helped a dwarf get a family heirloom back. Oh, and nearly died due to a sahuagin attack that was tougher than it should've been because the newbie DM got a little confused about how CR works.

The other party are the Silver Unicorns, a chartered adventuring company in Cormyr. It was suggested that they might go see what's going on in the Haunted Halls of Eveningstar. This all-female band consists of:

Shayna Silverstar - a level 1 Human Cleric of Lliira. We've replaced the Truesilver family with the Silverstar family in our game, and she's their heir. She's, well, a Cleric of Lliira. She's also the leader of the group, partially because it was her idea in the first place, and her uncle who paid for our charter.

Arwen Oriandis - a level 1 Moon Elf Ranger. She's very quiet and shy and, apparently, very disturbed by the idea of Raise Dead and Resurrection.

Melitheen - a level 1 Human Ranger. She's somewhat sarcastic, occasionally rude, a touch impatient, and generally just more comfortable around animals and trees than people. She is along for the adventure because it sounded fun.

Fynaril - a level 1 Half-Moon Elf Cleric of Selûne. Fynaril wanted to be a wizard growing up, like her father, but despite his best attempts, she's failed to learn anything more than one cantrip. She was called to Selûne's service, however, and is a very devout follower of Her. I'll probably eventually have her take a couple of levels of Wizard, with the explanation that her father's teaching methods were the issue.

They've only had one session so far, and they met Lord Tessaril, thrown rocks at doors and statues that kept shooting lightning (trying to work out a pattern that didn't exist), and found a dead body, which they took back to town, ruining Lord Tessaril's hopes for a quiet night of drinking and talking with friends.